Looks like the long wait is over and tomorrow we can finally attempt the Infernal Machine.
Blizzard Quote [source]
We will be performing scheduled maintenance for Diablo III starting tomorrow at 1:00 a.m. PDT in order to deploy patch 1.0.5. We anticipate that maintenance will conclude and that all services will be available by approximately 1:00 p.m. PDT.
Important: Please note that you will not be prompted to download patch 1.0.5 until the patch is live in your home region. If you are logging in from a European or Asian client, you will need to wait for this patch to release in that region before it can be installed. Additionally, if your home region is the Americas, you will be unable to log into Europe or Asia using Global Play after patch 1.0.5 is live until those regions have also patched.
For reference, here are the scheduled maintenance times for each region:
The Americas: 3:00 a.m. PDT (10/16) to 1:00 p.m. PDT (10/16)Europe: 6:00 p.m. PDT (10/16) to 4:00 a.m. PDT (10/17)
Asia: 11:00 a.m. PDT (10/17) to 9:00 p.m. PDT (10/17)
Please note that these times are subject to change. For time zone assistance, please visit:
http://everytimezone.comThe public test realm is going down tonight.
Blizzard Quote [source]
We will be shutting down the patch 1.0.5 PTR this evening (10/15) at approximately 11:00 p.m. PDT. At that time, you will no longer be able to log in to the PTR client, and both PTR Feedback and PTR Bug Report forums will be marked read-only.
Please note that any progress you made on the PTR will not transfer over to your Diablo III account.
Thank you to everyone who helped us test this patch. We look forward to releasing patch 1.0.5 to the public tomorrow morning!
Blizzard Quote [source]
The armies of the Burning Hells are about to become a lot more hellacious. In patch 1.0.5, we'll be introducing Monster Power, a new system designed to give players more control over how challenging enemies are in each difficulty setting. Similar to the "Players X" command in Diablo II, Monster Power gives Diablo III players the option to increase the health and damage of monsters according to different "power levels" -- and in return, they'll receive scaling bonuses to their adventure stats (including experience, Magic Find, and Gold Find) as well as more drops.
The option to adjust Monster Power will be available to all players starting at level 1 through the Quest Selection window, and can be adjusted separately for Normal, Nightmare, Hell, and Inferno difficulties. Here's how the system works....
Setting Your Monster Power Level
Monster Power will be disabled by default, so before you can make any adjustments, you'll first need to enable the system. To do so, open up the Game Menu, click the Options button, and then click the Gameplay tab. You'll see the Enable Monster Power Selection box on the right side of the screen -- check that, and then click Accept.
Once enabled, the option to set Monster Power will appear in the lower portion of the Quest Selection window next to the Difficulty drop-down menu. You can choose from Monster Power 1 (MP1) all the way up to Monster Power 10 (MP10), or you can opt for No Monster Power (the default setting) to play the "normal" challenge level for your chosen difficulty. Monster Power can be adjusted separately for each hero and difficulty, and can be changed at any time through the Quest Selection interface.
At the launch of patch 1.0.5, Monster Power will be available in both solo and private multiplayer games. Whenever you join a private multiplayer game, your hero will temporarily adopt the Monster Power level set by the party leader, and it will return to the previous setting you selected as soon as you leave the group.
(Please note that you will not be able to adjust Monster Power in Public Games at the feature's launch, though we're looking into the possibility of adding that ability in the future.)
More Guts, More Glory
Starting at MP1, each level of Monster Power will increase monster damage and health by a scaling amount depending on difficulty. To reward your audacity, your hero will receive bonuses to experience, Magic Find, and Gold Find (which will stack above the 300% cap).
For Normal, Nightmare, and Hell, the bonuses look like this:
In Inferno, in addition to increased experience, Magic Find, and Gold Find, whenever a monster dies and drops an item normally (whether it be gold, a potion, or a piece of gear), the monster also has a chance to drop an additional bonus item. The chance to drop a bonus item will scale up with each MP level as detailed in the table below.
In Inferno at Monster Power 1 or greater, monsters in every Act will also be bumped up to level 63 and share the same high-end item drop rates. This means that no matter which act you're progressing through, the monsters in that act will all have the same shot at dropping items level 61-63, including crafting recipes, Legendary items, and set items.
While monsters in Inferno will all be level 63 at MP 1 through MP 10, their skills, abilities, and attributes will still vary from act to act. This means that certain Acts or Chapters may still be more difficult for you than others based on what monsters and Elite packs appear in each, but -- since the rewards will be identical across the entire difficulty -- where you choose to play is ultimately up to you and your personal play style.
The Method Behind the Monsters
Now that we've explained the mechanics, let's delve a bit deeper into the design philosophy. The intent of Monster Power is not necessarily to make the game "unbeatable," but to provide better ways for players to measure their progress as they become more powerful. We've designed the system around this idea, with two primary areas of focus:
Monster Damage vs. Monster Health
Since the goal of this system isn’t to make the game ultra-hard, with each Monster Power level there's a heavy emphasis on increased monster health rather than monster damage. This is because, in general, it's more fun to find ways to maximize your damage than it is to be forced into taking every available form of damage mitigation. We also didn't want to create situations where "hard to beat" could become "impossible to beat" because players couldn't survive long enough to make any progress. In our testing, we found that while scaling up monster damage certainly made some fights more challenging, it did so in unfair ways…and also made it quite easy for heroes to be one-shot. Increasing the health of monsters, on the other hand, allowed the game to scale up in difficulty more naturally and in a way that still felt manageable.
Efficiency
By now, some players have reached a point where they can kill monsters so fast that even Inferno provides almost no challenge, and enemies die as soon as they appear on the screen. For these players, the bottleneck for efficient farming is actually the speed at which they can traverse the map rather than how well they can dispense with enemies.
This is where Monster Power can shine. Players who can clear every Act of Inferno without much problem can increase their Monster Power for a more enjoyable and interesting challenge -- as well as better rewards -- and keep pushing their limits all the way up to Monster Power 10. Will some players be able to kill Diablo on Monster Power 10 as soon as 1.0.5 goes live? Absolutely. Will that be the most efficient Monster Power level at which to farm items? For most, probably not. Monster Power allows each individual decide what that "sweet spot" is for them.
The Power Is Yours
In Diablo III, your character's power can grow by multiple orders of magnitude, but up until now there hasn't been a way for you to truly put that potency to the test. The Monster Power system provides a new outlet for high-powered heroes to truly see how far they've come and tangibly experience just how epic the gear they've collected is.
Different players want different levels of challenge, and with Monster Power you'll be able to determine what the right level of challenge is for you. Whether you're in it for the guts, the glory, or simply the goodies, we're excited to offer players the opportunity to face the forces of evil on their own (possibly slightly insane) terms.
Blizzard Quote [source]
The Halloween season has finally arrived, and we’re ready to cut straight to the heart of the holiday. If you're dying to pick up a knife and hack, gash, slash, and jab at something, then you might be excited to hear that as of October 11, Blizzard's 2012 Halloween Pumpkin Carving Contest has officially begun! Unleash your magical axes, psi blades, chitinous claws, and other creative cutlery to carve up Blizzard-themed jack-o'-lanterns of epic awesomeness. If you're unclear as to what epic awesomeness looks like in the flesh, you can check out last year's winners for some inspiration.
We'll choose ten of the grandest Cucurbita to earn one (1) World of Warcraft Monopoly Collector's Edition.
Don't delay; start carving right away! The ninth annual pumpkin carving contest ends on October 29, so be sure to check out the contest page for rules and eligibility and get straight to slicing.
PTR Maintenance - 10/11/2012
Blizzard Quote [source]
The PTR will be down for Battle.net maintenance starting tomorrow (October 11) at approximately 10:00 a.m. PDT. We anticipate it will be back online between 12:00 p.m. PDT and 3:00 p.m. PDT.Set Items on Followers
Blizzard Quote [source]
As it stands currently, in order to receive the benefits of set bonuses, the set items need to be equipped on your main character. Set items equipped on Followers will not contribute to set bonuses.
We’re aware that this isn’t ideal, and we’re looking into some possibilities that would make using set items on Followers a more appealing choice in the future.
I am curious on what they have planned for making Set items more appealing to use on Followers. The majority of my playtime is solo with a Follower, so any addition to followers is welcomed.
A few more patch 1.0.5 changes were posted today.
Blizzard Quote [source]
Bosses
- Diablo
Bug Fixes- Diablo's Curse of Destruction now specifies damage type in the tooltip
Demon Hunter
- Active Skills
- Bola Shot
- Explosion radius increased from 7 yards to 14 yards (Was 17 in PTR)
- Bug Fixes
- Rapd Fire
- Starting to channel at max possible range will no longer cause the channel to interrupt itself and attempt to close towards the mouse cursor
Monk
- Bug Fixes
- Mystic Ally - Earth Ally
- Earth Ally will now actively follow players
- Dashing Strike
- Players can no longer become stuck if they die to a damage over time spell while casting Dashing Strike
- Mystic Ally - Earth Ally
Witch Doctor
- Bug Fixes
- Haunt
- Damage now benefits from Intelligence and other skill bonuses
Wizard
- Bug Fixes
- Archon
- It is no longer possible to bypass the cooldown of Archon by combining Arcane Orb, Diamond Skin, and Archon
Crafting
- Fixed a bug where crafted items were not displaying the correct Required Level to equip them
Items
- The order in which you equip gear with a Legendary affix to add bonus Elemental Damage will no longer cause your damage output to change
Monsters
- Rare Heralds of Pestilence will now spawn minions
- The following monster types can now spawn as Rares and Champions, allowing certain achievements to be completed:
- Mallet Lord
- Skeletal Sentry
- Skeletal Raider
- Skeletal Marauder
- Armaddon
- Armored Destroyer
- Subjugator
- Dust Imp
User Interface
- Switching from a weapon to a shield in your off-hand will no longer cause your Damage stat to display less damage than your character actually deals in combat
General Bug Fixes
- Act I
- Act I - Realm of Chaos: The cut-scene no longer hangs on a black screen when you begin the Realm of Chaos encounter
- Act I - Defiled Crypt: Loot can no longer fall inside the chest upon completion of the "Matriarch's Bones" event
- Act I - The Festering Woods: It is no longer possible for loot to fall inside the broken pillar bases.
- Act III
- Act III - Stonefort: It is no longer possible for the first soldier during the event "Protect and Serve: Protect the soldiers raising the catapult" to be killed by monsters before reaching the winch
- Act III - Rakkis Crossing: Captain Haile can no longer be killed during "Blaze of Glory: Talk to Captain Haile"
- Act IV
- Act IV - The Pinnacle of Heaven: Tyrael is now present in the cutscene during "Prime Evil: Climb to the Pinnacle of Heaven in the Silver Spire